ECOWAS Status Report

RENEWABLE ENERGY AND ENERGY EFFICIENCY STATUS REPORT 2014 | 55 In line with the targets established under the SE4ALL initiative and the EREP (see Table 12), the majority of ECOWAS Member States have established sustainable energy access as a national development priority.8 Large populations in nearly all of the Member States lack access to electricity and/or modern fuels for cooking and lighting, and nearly all have adopted targets and/or policies to increase access through grid-expansion or the deployment of off-grid technologies. These targets and policies increasingly rely on renewable energy technologies to improve electricity access in off-grid communities. The expansion of modern fuel alternatives is also a central component of expanding sustainable access. Expanding access to clean cook stoves and higher-quality fuels is a central component of national development strategies. The promotion of sustainable energy sources through additional sectoral policies and targets—including in the cooking, heating and cooling, and transportation sectors—are further discussed in this section (see Sectoral Polices section). As of early 2014, 12 ECOWAS Member States had national targets to raise the level of domestic electricity coverage.9 (See Table 13.) Cabo Verde has already made significant progress in achieving near universal access to electricity, and Ghana and Sierra Leone have set ambitious goals to achieve universal access by 2020 and 2030, respectively.10 Additionally, seven Member States have adopted targets for the use of modern fuel alternatives, and four have adopted targets for the deployment of clean cook stoves and/or solar cookers.11 Targets for electrification are often backed by national policies and strategies, providing detailed mechanisms for expanding access. Increasingly, these policies single out renewable energy as an important tool for reaching underserved populations and alleviating poverty. As of early 2014, Benin, Burkina Faso, Cabo Verde, Ghana, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, and Sierra Leone all had policy documents in place that include provisions to advance energy access. Additionally, draft policies addressing energy access existed in two ECOWAS Member States: in the Gambia, the draft Renewable Energy Policy 2012 includes a section dedicated to off-grid energy, and in Nigeria, a draft policy includes various targets for sustainable energy access. Data for Guinea and Togo are not currently available. Within these overarching policy documents, countries have also established specific measures aimed at promoting rural electrification through renewable energy. Benin, Burkina Faso, Mali, Senegal, and Togo have all created dedicated rural electrification programmes that rely specifically on renewable energy technologies to expand access.12 The majority of programmes in place, however, do not focus exclusively on the use of renewable energy.13 TABLE 12 | EREP Off-grid Renewable Energy Targets Source: see endnote 8 for this section. POLICY AND TARGET OVERVIEW 04 22% 25% 100% 100% 100% 60% 36% 41% 5% 10% SHARE OF RURAL POPULATION SERVED FROM RENEWABLE ENERGY OFF-GRID (MINI-GRID AND STAND-ALONE) SYSTEMS SHARE OF POPULATION USING IMPROVED COOK STOVES SHARE OF EFFICIENT CHARCOAL PRODUCTION SHARE OF POPULATION USING MODERN FUEL ALTERNATIVES FOR COOKING BIODIESEL AS SHARE OF DIESEL AND FUEL-OIL CONSUMPTION 2020 2020 2020 2020 2020 2030 2030 2030 2030 2030 SUSTAINABLE ENERGY ACCESS